5 Great Ways to Elevate Your Next Homecoming Fundraiser

It’s that special time of the year again - Homecoming! For schools, colleges, and universities across the country, the Homecoming weekend is a grand, festive celebration where students, alumni, and faculty come together to show their school pride. For alumni, homecoming is a truly memorable experience as they look forward to meeting their old friends, teachers, mentors, current students and making new memories. The nostalgia associated with homecoming also encourages alumni to give back to their alma mater and learn more about the philanthropic possibilities. 

While the pandemic has definitely made it difficult to host a traditional Homecoming this year, it is incredible to see how institutions are coping up to deliver the best experience to their communities via a virtual or a hybrid format. As raising funds become all the more crucial amidst a pandemic, schools, and universities are leveraging creative opportunities to maximize fundraising profit potential at their Virtual Homecoming this fall. 

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Here are the top 5 fundraising ideas to boost alumni donations at your Homecoming this year. 

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Virtual Talent Show Fundraiser

A virtual talent show is a great, fun-filled way to encourage your alumni to showcase their talents and are perfect for making small fundraising appeals. Inspire alumni to flaunt their artistic side, be it singing, dancing, music, or even magic. Set a theme that your alumni would be excited to perform to and collect registrations well in advance. You could also use an event management tool to create a branded event page with details about the theme, attendees, timings, and urge alumni to make a donation on the page. 

Make the event more interesting by conducting a live poll amongst your alumni to decide the winner. You can also live stream the event on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram to boost engagement during the event and appeal to those engaged online to make a gift. In addition to making fundraising appeals a part of your event registration process and promotions during the online event, you can also add a payment link to your communications (emails and social media) after the event. 

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Online Retail Store

As the pandemic has forced everyone to stay confined to their homes for a majority of the year, health, and wellbeing has become a priority across the globe. So, this homecoming is a wonderful opportunity to help your alumni take actionable steps towards their health and well-being with a virtual race/walk-a-thon/marathon. ‍

Post inspiring posts on your event page, garner support from alumni volunteers, and create awareness via social media. Also, remind your alumni that your institution too needs the support of their loyal donors to be able to power through this economic crisis. You can charge just a nominal fee per ticket for participants and also encourage alumni during the course of the event to support your cause.

See how Manchester University in Indiana hosted a 30-day Virtual 5K race at their Homecoming 2020, encouraging alumni to embrace the community spirit by joining the event along with their family and friends. 

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Watch Party Fundraiser

Since the onset of the pandemic, people have missed going out to movies with their friends. Bring the movie watching experience home to your alumni this homecoming by organizing a watch party. Take a poll to select the movie and set a designated time for the watch party. Connect your alumni over a Zoom call, so they can watch the movie together while being able to chat with each other real-time. You can also have all your alumni assemble on the call and then assign breakout rooms for different class years to have their own watch parties while they get to talk to their friends. 

You can create a ticketed virtual event and encourage alumni to make a contribution to support your cause. Choosing a compelling theme and making a personalized appeal for donations can go a long way in boosting your fundraising this Homecoming. 

Check out how Antioch College hosted an Adventure Watch Party 2020 to celebrate the entering class of 2024 and to raise funds for their needs. 

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Drive-through Dinner Fundraiser

Good food and conversations are a usual part of homecoming, but this year calls for a different approach. As your alumni cannot come together for a dinner party, you could organize a drive-through dinner to comply with the social distancing guidelines in your state. 

Set up your registration page early and inform your alumni about what they should be expecting. From tacos to hot dogs, take your pick and promote the drive-through via social media, emails, and your alumni website. To spice it up, you can even create a themed-dinner and your volunteers can go live on Facebook or YouTube right before the event starts to boost engagement. It is also integral to let your alumni know how you plan on using the proceeds from their purchases. 

The institution of higher education relies on funding from alumni to maintain the level of excellence it’s worked so hard to establish. When students graduate and go out into the working world, they’re putting the skills and knowledge that they built while in school to use. On an average, higher education graduates earn around twice as much in their lifetime than individuals with only a high school diploma or GED.

This means that your alumni are also the best people to reach out to for fundraising at your institution. Not only do they have a special connection with their alma mater, but as they grow in their respective careers and gain financial stability, they can contribute better to your cause — hence, it’s imperative to keep your alumni in the loop. Your alumni leverage the education they received from your institution. By donating to your school, they can give back to help others do the same.

What does this mean for your organization? It’s your job to help alumni see the benefit of contributing to your school and to develop relationships with them over time. We've curated 4 alumni fundraising strategies that are evergreen and will help you reap alumni fundraising success. However, keep in mind that some other details, such as trends in higher education fundraising, may change depending on the external circumstances in which you’re operating. Keep the latest alumni engagement trends in mind, but don’t forget the importance of lasting strategies as well. Let’s dive in!

1. Segment your alumni audience

Not all alumni are equal. This doesn’t mean you should completely ignore some of them, because they’re all important. However, you should approach them differently depending on who they are and their role in your organization.

For instance, you wouldn’t go to an average recent graduate and ask for a major donation of $1 million. Similarly, you wouldn’t go to a major donor and ask for $25. Instead, segment the supporters within your database. If you don’t yet have a database you like or are looking for a new option, Bloomerang’s donor database guide provides the following steps to find the perfect solution for any organization:

When you have an alumni engagement/fundraising software/platform that empowers the effective organization of alumni data, create segments based on the alumni’s giving recency, frequency, type, amount, reason, and interest. Let’s consider how different types of donors might show these items differently:

• Brand new graduates: These donors won’t have given as alumni before. They’re likely fresh in their careers and don’t have much of a capacity to give. However, they also likely feel a strong connection to the school having only just left it.

• Mid-tier existing alumni donors: Mid-tier donors are too often forgotten, generally due to an over-reliance on major supporters. According to Almabase, 95% of gifts made to higher education institutions come from only 5% of alumni. Mid-tier supporters have already shown they want to contribute and they’re the most likely to become major donors in the future.

• Major alumni donors: Major donors typically come from older alumni who are well-established in their careers. You’ve already developed a relationship with them and likely know these donors by name (some may even have buildings named after them!).

Understanding segments in your alumni database will help you reach out to alumni with messages most meaningful to their engagement with your school. This lays the foundation for an impactful relationship.

2. Leverage prospect research

Higher education institutions generally rely heavily on major giving from alumni. By leveraging prospect research, your institution can identify these valuable alumni and determine who will be most likely to give in substantial quantities to your school.

Prospect research will help you identify both wealth and philanthropic indicators to make this possible. Here’s a breakdown of the difference:

• Wealth indicators provide insight into the capacity that your donors have to give. This insight comes from their publicly available financial information such as real estate ownership, SEC holdings, and the size of previous gifts to other organizations.

• Philanthropic indicators provide insight into an alumna’s affinity to give to the institution. Information such as an alumna’s previous involvement at the school, their current involvement (such as serving on a board), and past giving, can provide insight into whether they’re likely to give. According to DonorSearch’s affinity to give guide, people who give $10,000 to $25,000 to other organizations are ten times more likely to make a donation to another organization than the average person.

This information is publicly available, so you could take a DIY approach to find it. However, it’s much simpler to use a prospect research database to learn more about prospective donors. Then, you can search your alumni database to find the perfect match for your next mid-tier or major donation.

3. Empower alumni to reach out on your behalf.

Average new alumni might not have the capacity to donate back to the school in large sums just yet. However, they may still feel a very strong connection to your school, having just graduated. Therefore, you should get them involved as soon as possible.

Ask new graduates to reach out on your behalf to get their friends, family, and connections involved with your institution. You may ask them to:

• Volunteer as a peer-to-peer fundraiser on your behalf
• Attend alumni chapter events and invite friends and family to join
• Serve as leaders of the local alumni chapter to reach other alums

Even if your alumni don’t have the capacity to give or don’t want to give yet, that doesn’t mean they can’t get involved! Encourage all of your alumni to get involved with your institution and to start giving back by reaching out on your behalf.

4. Focus on building relationships

It’s rare that an alumna will turn around to give $10,000 to your school out of the blue. Typically, large donations that exceed thousands or even millions are those that come from someone your institution has developed a relationship with.

Focusing on donor relationships will help keep your alumni coming back again and again, increasing your retention rate and helping you fundraise more. Higher donor retention lowers the cost of acquisition. Plus, alumni will tend to give in greater quantities over time as their capacity increases and their connections to the institution continue to grow.

To build these relationships, your organization should:

• Reach out regularly with updates about the school and its progress
• Call your alumni and engage in real conversations with them
• Show appreciation for all gifts made, no matter how big or small
• Schedule events and opportunities for get-togethers among alumni

Relationships build the foundation for all healthy and sustainable fundraising. By focusing on relationships rather than money, you show your alumni that you care about them, not just their wallets.

Your alumni are thankful for the time they spent learning at your school and developing skills that helped them make it in the world beyond. This connection to your school is special and strong. Therefore, take the steps necessary to build relationships with these important donors and reach out to them using the strategies in this guide for more successful alumni fundraising.

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Frequently asked questions

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1) How do you get alumni to donate?

Alumni donate to an institution and cause that they feel a personal connection with. Alumni donations involve require keeping them engaged, providing a smooth donation process, hosting events that resonate with them, and forming a community of like-minded donors.

2) Why is it important to engage with alumni?

Even the most generous alumni may miss out on an upcoming cause due to a busy schedule. Meaningful and personalized engagement not only keeps alumni in the loop with what's happening but also allows you to widen your reach for upcoming events and fundraisers.

3) What is the meaning of alumni engagement today?

Today, alumni engagement is a mix of online and offline engagement methods. You try to promote in-person interactions but also keep track of your email, social media, and alumni community interactions to keep your alumni base interested and informed.

4) What is the importance of alumni fundraising?

Fundraisers allow institutions to tap into the social goodwill of their alumni to achieve initiatives and events that they might have otherwise not had the funding or reach to accomplish. By maintaining this bond, fundraising also doubles as a crucial engagement channel between an institution and an alumni.

5) What are the benefits of an alumni association?

An alumni association provides alumni with access to career , mentorship, and networking opportunities while keeping them in touch with their fellow alumni. The institution in turn gains a central point of contact for their alumni outreach and communication needs through the association.

As a higher education fundraising professional, it can be a lot of pressure to constantly come up with new, innovative fundraising ideas for your school. Seasonal fundraisers are a great way to add variety and excite donors. When you host a seasonal fundraiser, you play into students’ and donors’ existing excitement for the upcoming season, leading to more engagement.

Plus, product fundraisers make seasonal fundraising easy. All you have to do is pick a season-relevant product to sell, and donors receive something tangible in return for their contributions. It’s a win-win!

To get you started, we’ll provide three ideas for each season for a total of 12 engaging fundraising ideas you can use throughout the year.

Fall Fundraising Ideas

1. Pizza

Starting a new school year can be daunting, especially for freshmen. Besides the academic stressors of beginning college, many students stress about finding their footing socially.

With a pizza fundraiser, you can bring students together at the start of the year and help them forge lasting friendships. Work with a local pizza shop to provide pizza pies at a discounted rate. Then, you can sell them to students by the slice or by the pie and provide tables for them to enjoy their meal. 

Alternatively, you can sell pizza at your back-to-school club fair to encourage students to attend. Let students grab a quick bite to eat while they check out all the extracurricular activities your school has to offer.

2. Care Packages

Many parents send their children care packages during their first semester of college to show that they miss them and provide some treats from back home. Make it easier for them to do so by hosting a care package fundraiser.

Have older students stuff boxes with items such as:

• Candy
• Snacks
• School apparel

Then, set up a care package fundraising page on your website, and promote it on social media to spread the word to new students’ families.

3. Popcorn

One of the most exciting parts of the fall season for students is Halloween. Consider hosting a Halloween-themed movie night with spooky movies. That way, you can sell popcorn at the event for students to enjoy and earn money for your school.

Since popcorn can stay fresh for a long time, you can also include alumni in your popcorn fundraiser. Sell the popcorn online, and ship it to alumni so they can join in on the fall fun from anywhere.

Winter Fundraising Ideas

4. Cookie Dough

Who doesn’t want to enjoy a warm cookie fresh out of the oven during the colder months? ABC Fundraising recommends hosting a cookie dough fundraiser because they have a high earning potential and cater to different tastes with a variety of flavors.

Plus, this type of fundraiser can bring students together and provide an indoor activity to help them stay out of the cold. Students can use their dorm kitchens to bake the cookies together and even swap them in a holiday cookie exchange hosted by their resident advisors.

5. Wrapping Paper

Wrapping paper is a must during the holiday season, so you might as well allow your supporters to purchase it and give back to your school at the same time. Along with selling wrapping paper, eCardWidget’s Christmas fundraising guide recommends hosting gift-wrapping services to help donors wrap their gifts during the holiday season.

Students can volunteer to work the gift-wrapping station and sell the wrapping paper there as well. Then, you can invite members of the community to come to campus and get their gifts wrapped in exchange for a small donation.

6. Candles

Warm students’ and donors’ hearts with a candle fundraiser. To make this fundraiser even more suited to the holiday season, choose scents like peppermint, pine, and gingerbread.

This type of fundraiser presents a good opportunity to remind donors of matching gift opportunities at year-end. Send alumni and other supporters an email notifying them of your candle fundraiser. Include a short paragraph that thanks them for their contributions throughout the year and reminds them to submit any lingering matching gift requests before the year wraps up.

Spring Fundraising Ideas

7. Flower Bulbs

Nothing screams spring like flowers! Have environmental clubs on campus host a flower bulb fundraiser. That way, they can give students tips on how to keep their new plants healthy throughout the season.

Parents and alumni with gardens may be enticed to participate as well. Let them know about your fundraiser in your newsletter, detailing how they can order the bulbs online or pick them up on campus if they’re local.

8. Cotton Candy

Bring everyone together before the school year ends with a spring carnival! Allow student groups to run booths, and offer games and food for everyone to enjoy.

Then, top it all off with a cotton candy fundraiser! You’ll transport students back to their childhood with this nostalgic snack and earn a ton of funds for your school.

9. Gourmet Coffee

When the end of the school year looms close, students start stressing about finals. Late library sessions become the norm, and some will pull all-nighters in hopes of acing their final assessments.

For many students, coffee is a must, especially during this busy time. Help them fuel up for finals with a gourmet coffee fundraiser. You can also sell and ship coffee bags to alumni, allowing them to reminisce about the woes of college finals.

Summer Fundraising Ideas

10. Flip-Flops

Remind students and alumni of their alma mater during summer break by selling branded flip-flops. That way, they can show off their school spirit at the beach or the pool all summer long!

Work with a product fundraiser provider that can find an apparel company best suited for your flip-flop fundraiser. For example, you may want to customize the flip-flops to your school's colors or add your logo, so you’ll need to work with a company that can cater to your needs.

11. Snacks

A snack fundraiser is easy to pull off in the summer because you can ship snacks to alumni and students no matter where they may be. Consider selling snacks that can travel well in the heat, such as:

• Trail mix
• Pretzels
• Nuts
• Candy

Whether they choose to enjoy their snacks on a picnic, by the pool, or on the journey traveling back to school, a snack fundraiser is sure to please supporters of all ages.

12. Discount Cards

Gear up your students for back to school with discount cards that offer them savings at local restaurants and shops near campus. Then, you can sell the cards and put the funds toward programs that will benefit your school community.

Not only can these discount cards help your students save money, but they’ll also get them excited to return to campus and support their favorite local vendors.

While these suggestions should give you plenty of inspiration for your next seasonal product fundraiser, make sure to survey your students and alumni to collect data about which products they’d prefer to purchase. That way, you can ensure you have high participation rates and raise sufficient funds to support your school’s programming.

Conclusion

Hopefully this blog has inspired you and given your next fundraiser some exciting ideas. If you're looking for a platform to help you host your next fundraiser or event your way, do give Almabase a try!

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About the Author

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Debbie Salat is the director of fundraising activities and product development at ABC Fundraising(r) - Debbie joined ABC Fundraising(r) in 2010 and is responsible for launching over 6500 fundraising campaigns for schools, churches, youth sports teams and non-profit organizations all across the USA. With over 20 years of fundraising experience, Debbie knows the path to success for fundraisers which she shares with groups on a daily basis so they can achieve their fundraising goals.